RA Ibiza Weekly: Closing parties, Part I

Paradise, Pete Tong, Marco Carola, We Love... and Amnesia all come under the microscope.

It's the beginning of the end: The closing parties are coming thick and fast in Ibiza at the moment, and that's only set to continue next week. We'll be back on Monday, October 15th (rather than our usual Friday) with the second part of our closing party round-up. In the meantime, for more White Isle coverage, head over to our comprehensive Ibiza microsite.

Paradise closing

Last Thursday, Paradise wrapped up its season at DC-10 with a much larger lineup than normal, using both the terrace and the main room for the first time. It was a good decision: The place was rammed, sweaty and pumping all night long, especially when Clive Henry dropped tracks like Mike Huckaby's "Bassline 89," with its infectious bassline and funky, tribal drum riff. Henry kept the classic vibe going most of the night, even throwing in the disco anthem "Sunset People" by Donna Summer.

Heidi hit the decks later on, playing tunes like Kraftwerk's dark and techy "Boing Boom Tschak" and Gerd's remix of Tyrell and Mike Dunn's acid builder, "Touch the Sky." Getting into the mood, Cassy came into the booth dressed as a Paradise dancer and rocked out to Heidi set. Jamie Jones finished the night off, and he was on form like I've never seen him at DC-10. With "Arquipelago" by Gui Borrato, Julio Bashmore's remix Bobby Womack's "Love Is Gonna Lift You Up" and Ripperton and Alex Attias remix of Silky Sunday's "Friend," he kept the crowd cheering, sweating and dancing from start to finish, reminding everyone why he's the boss.
Photos: Paradise closing

All Gone Pete Tong closing

On Friday we headed over to the final fiesta for All Gone Pete Tong at Pacha, who've also had a solid season with a wide range of guests. Maya Jane Coles made her second appearance at Tong's night for the closing party, playing over in the old booth, and once again all I could do was watch in awe as she transitioned from hard techno to bass-heavy garage to deep house in what felt like one smooth gesture. So calm, so precise, and the dance floor seemed to agree.

Next up was Bristol's own Eats Everything, whose stage persona couldn't be more different than Coles, pumping his fists, dancing with friends in the booth, and smiling the whole way through. He made his way through fun, upbeat territory, with tracks that sampled DJ Blaze's iconic "My Beat," a pumping acid remix of his own "Entrance Song" and his remix of Adam F's "Circles," with a nice little drum & bass breakdown that blew the crowd away.
Photos: All Gone Pete Tong closing

From there we headed to the closing party of Marco Carola's highly successful Music On. As we were walking in and getting our wristbands, the press agent warned us it was going to be a long one, possibly going till 1 PM the next day, and that it was already completely packed. They weren't kidding. After painstakingly making our way through the heaving masses, we found a solid spot to dance, and didn't leave our precious ground for hours.

What has always made Carola's night extra special is the crowd. Even with the amount of people inside, they're always smiling, always dancing and absolutely in love with Marco. The Italian maestro kept things deep and trippy with tracks like &Me's remix of Philip Arruda's "Seeds of Brooklyn and Re-UP's "Freedom" for almost the entire night, never letting the energy really take off, even at the end of the night like I had seen before. He was always in total control, giving everyone exactly what they wanted.

The biggest moment of the night came for those who hung till the final song at around noon. After fading the volume on "Our Sun" by Dexter Ford, teasing that it might be the end, he slowly crept in Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round," and the place exploded into a mass sing-along.

We Love… closing party

On Sunday it was time to head to the We Love… closing party at Space, and they brought a lineup that capped of a great season of unique and underground talent. This Sunday it was resident James Zabiela's upcoming label, Born Electric hosting the Discoteca, with the UK's Shackleton playing a live set, bringing his dark, trippy, tribal brand of fast-paced, bass-heavy dubstep to the island—an Ibiza debut for him.

Also making their Ibiza debut were the German duo Modeselektor. The duo brought their live show, complete with custom visuals, and with giant triangles below and to the side, along with a huge visual screen behind them. It added a special layer to their already distinctive sound. After announcing themselves on the mic, processing their voices several octaves up, they launched into glitched-out, energetic techno and dubstep, punctuated by long, spaced-out breakdowns, winding up with drops that sent the crowd into fits. In the words of one partygoer, it was "a fucking assault!"
Photos: We Love... closing

Cocoon closing party

Cocoon added an extra date for its closing party this year, finishing up on October 1st, and although we were a bit tired from the previous few closing parties, we wouldn't stay that way for long. We headed into the main room to catch a bit of Cassy, who kept things upbeat and rhythmic, throwing in Kenny Larkin's "Tension" remix of Inner City's "Future" to a packed house.

It wasn't until about 4 AM that the crowd was at its fullest, and that's when we decided to head into the terrace and watch Ricardo Villalobos do his thing. The Chilean-born DJ started off in deeper territory, with tracks like his remix of Depeche Mode's "Sinner in Me." Unlike the few other times I've seen him this season, he kept things soulful and thought-provoking, eventually picking things up with a mixture of salsa guitar riffs and bongos, even bringing in Carl Craig's remix of Inner City's "Good Life."

Once it started getting light out, Loco Dice took to the decks, and the energy level kicked up immediately. By 10 AM, the terrace was at its crescendo. Bodies writhed with pleasure, everyone shouting and screaming with each new drop, arms pumping with joy in the morning light. The energy was incredible. I even saw one girl making the sign of the cross, murmuring "oh my God" in Spanish, looking like she was on the verge of tears, in total awe of Dice's set.

As things got closer to the end, Dice threw on one of his favorite end-of-set tracks of the season, Martin Landsky's "Bloodhound," eventually finishing with his own "Seeing Through Shadows." Around the same time, Cocoon's head of promotions, Johannes Goller held up a towel from inside the booth that read "You're Our Hero" with a pair of dice stitched in underneath, giving praise to both the great crowd and the man who kept it going all day.

I hated the cocoon closing this year. Too crowded and the music was shit. Ricardo is one of my favourite djs but he played one of the worst sets ive heard. The volume was up to loud and just sounded like loud droning noises all night. Got that bad i left around 8.30

Space was my fave of the whole week. great sets from cromby swoose bicep, shakelton and modselector

Some wrong information here .... I'm 99.9% sure that it was Craig Richards who played 'Sunset People' by Donna Summer and he did so in the main room cos i was jamming to it! And im pretty sure Clive Henry played the terrace so unless he played it as well (highly unlikely) then the person who was reporting on Paradise must of got a bit confused. No big deal, just thought i Would clear that up as Richards should be getting the praise for dropping that peace of Disco heaven

How can you write about the paradise closing without mentioning Solomun? He blew the place away. Total sitdown plus that david bowie track have got to be like 2 of the best moments of my ibiza trip this year. Also maya jane coles at the pete tong closing rocked. Amazing sounds!

More on Jamie Jones

Jamie Jones and his label, Hot Creations, have been credited with creating an iconic sound that has paved the way for a warmer, more melodic, deeper side of techno to emerge.View the full artist profile